Coin-controlled vending-machine.



W. O. WOLFORD. COIN CONTROLLED VENDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED mun. I915. RENEWED JUNE 8. I917.

1,242,298. Patented Oct. 9,1917,

4 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WITNESSES: IN V5 TO]? g W0. Wolfard W. 0. WOLFORD.

COIN CONTROLLED VENDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED ILINEl. I915. RENEWED IUNE 8. I9I7.

1,242,298. Patented Oct. 9, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES." l/V VEN T 0/? M/QCQM W w. 0. WOLFORD.

COIN CONTROLLED VENDING MACHINE.

Patented Oct. 9,1917.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE I, I915 RENEWED JUNE 8,1911.

4 SHEETSSIIEET 3.

m0. Mia 5%)?! W. 0. WOLFORD.

COIN CONTROLLED VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED lUNE l. l9.l5- RENEWED JUNE 8. I911.

1,242,298. Patented 0% 9,1917,

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

WITNESSES: IN VEN 70!? M Q WfQWqQWd MA TTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM O. WOLFORD, OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS TO ROLLA MGCONNEL, OF KINGSVILLE, MISSOURI.

COIN-CONTROLLED VENDING-MACHINE.

Application filed June 1, 1915, Serial No. 31,600. Renewed June 8, 1917.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, VVILLIAM O. VVOLFORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fort \Vorth, in the county of Tarrant and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coin-Coir trolled VendingMachines, of which the fol lowing is a specification.

This invention relates to coin controlled machines of that character for use in the sale of stamps and the like contained within cnvelops, and has for its objects to produce a machine of the character mentioned which operates eiliciently, compels a complete cycle of operation for each coin received and cannot be rendered inoperative through the de posit of a plurality of coins in the chute or while the operation of the machine is in progress.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and combinations of parts as hereinafter described and claimed; and in order that it may be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure '1, is a vertical section of a coin controlled vending machine taken on the line II of Fig. 4, with the envelop magazine omitted, but with its position indicated by dotted lines.

Fig. 2, is a similar section of the case of the machine with the magazine in one of the positions it assumes as the delivery of an envelop is in progress, the drawer and locking pin thereof being omitted.

Fig. 3, is a vertical transverse section taken on the line ITI -III of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4, is a horizontal section taken on the line IY IV of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5, is a "ertical section showing certain elements of the envelop delivering mechan sm in a position occupied while the flap of the envelop is being opened.

Fig. 6, is a vertical section indicating further progress in the opening or unfolding of the flap of the envelop in course of deliverance.

Fig. 7, is a similar view showing the parts in the positions occupied just prior to the completion of the rearward movement or swing of the magazine.

Fig. 8, is a detailed perspective view of one of the elements of the machine.

in the said drawings, 1 indicates a casing Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 9, 1917.

Serial No. 173,860.

preferably of rectangular form, as shown, and provided with a horizontal partition 2 to provide an underlying chamber 3 containing a money drawer 4, susceptible of being slid rearwardly out of the casing. To secure the drawer in position, it is provided with a perforated bracket 5, the perforation of which is normally engaged by the lower end of a pin 6 extending down through the partition 2, a spring 7 being utilized to hold the pin yieldingly in engagement with said perforation, so that. when the pin is pulled upward it will release the drawer.

The casing is preferably provided with a glass panel or window 8 in its top and with a glass panel or window 9 in its front side. these glass panels enabling one to view the interior of the casing as the mechanism hereinafter described. is operated. The front wall is provided with an envelop delivering slot 10, below the glass panel 9, and with an inwardly projecting shelf 11. at the lower edge of said opening. Near one end of the shelf the casing is provided with a coin tube 12 into which a coin may be inserted through the front wall of the case, in the usual manner, and the lower end of said tube terminates in chamber 3 above the coin drawer 4.

The tube is provided with a vert cal elongated opening 13 in one side wall. through which a coin therein may be observed, and near ts lower end is horizontally bifurcated at 14. for a purpose which hereinafter appears. Opposite opening 13 the other side wall of the tube is provided with an angular slot, com n'ising a vertical portion 15 and a rearwardlv and upwardly extending portion 16, the latter portion preferably continuing into a hollow housing lug 17. formed or secured to the rear edge of the tube.

18 is a bar riveted or otherwise rigidly secured to one of the side walls of the casing and provided with a stud 19, forming a fulcrum for a lever 20 extending forwardly through the front wall of the casing and operable in a vertical plane. the front end of the lever carrying a finger piece or button 21 for convenience of manipulation.

A link 22 is pivoted at its lower end to said lever and provided at its upper end with a pin 23. operating within the tube 12 and guided within the slot 15 thereof, the arrangement being such that depression of the lever will cause the pin 23 to travel for wardly through the upper portion 16 of the angular slot and then downward in the vertical portion 15 of said slot for the purpose of imposing downward pressure on a coin or coins within the tube.

2% is a swing plate pivotally pendent from a stub shaft 25, carried by bar 18, said swing plate being located at the opposite side of the tube 12 from link 92, and said plate is provided with an obtuse angle shaped slot 26, receiving a laterally projecting pin :27 of lever 20, so that when said lever is depressed it shall effect swinging movement of said plate. The swing plate is pivoted near its lower end at 28 to a link 29 provided at its rear end with a transverse pin 30, and near said pin extends through a vertically slotted frame 31, secured to partition 2. Pivoted to said frame is a rack bar 32 which extends downwardly and forwardly to a point below the plane of pin 30, the toothed portion of the rack bar being off-set from the pivoted end thereof at 33. The teeth of said rack bar face rearwardly, so that when the link 29 moves rearward, pin will ride upwardly over the teeth of the rack bar and when it clears the last one, drop downward upon a companion rack bar 34, which is arranged horizontally and has forwardly-opening teeth which offer no obstruction to forward movement of the linkcarried pin 30, it being apparent that in such forward movement the pin will engage the underside of the pivoted rack bar and swing the same upward out of its way. The said pin. in conjunction with the oppositely disposed rack bars. constitutes a back check to guard against incomplete movements of the link 29 and the consequent possible defrauding of the machine. as the pivoted rack bar will prevent forward movement of the pin 30 after the latter has been moved rearwardly upon it. and the companion rack bar will prevent rearward movement therein of said pin.

Pivoted on stub 25 between swing plate 24 and the coin tube 12. is a swing bar 35 for normally locking the operating mechanism. Fiaid bar is provided with a forwardlyprojecting nose to prevent rei levation of the operating lever after a coin has been utilized to unlock the mechanism. Above nose 36 the bar 35 has an unlocking flange 37 projecting into recess 38 in the rear edge of the coin tube. to arrest a coin dropped in the tube. at a point below the plane of the portion 16 of the angular slot of the tube. The bar 35 is also provided with an upright or longitudinal slot 39 and communicating with and just above the lower end of said slot is a forwardly-opening mouth 40, the lower portion of the mouth preferably sloping downwardly and forwardly from a point just above the lower end of said slot,

" for a purpose which hereinafter appears.

At the lower end of the bar is a laterally projecting foot 41, which normally forms a false bottom for the tube 12 by extending through the bifurcation 1% thereof, and to hold the swinging bar in operative position with the flange 37 in the recess 38, as shown in Fig. 1, a retractile spring 12 is employed, the same being secured at its opposite ends to the front wall of the casing and to the said flange, as shown most clearly in Figs. 1 and 4.

43 is a rectangular magazine which is pivotally supported at its front upper corner by a U shapedbracket it. so that its tendency is to gravitate to a vertical position and be held in such position by engagement with a part of the front wall of the casing, as indicated by dotted lines, Fig. 1. he front wall of the magazine is provided with a window 45 through which the envelop E, stacked within the magazine may be observed. Pivoted to one side of the magazine is a bar 46. provided at its lower end with a slot or bifurcation l7. engaging the pivot pin 28 connecting the swinging plate with link 29. and to secure said bar rigidly at the desired point of pivotal adjustment on the magazine. the latter carries a clamping screw 48 which extends through a slot t9 extending concentrically of the pivotal point of said bar. This slot is simply for adjustment purposes when the parts of the machine are assembled as after such assembly is made there is no need of effecting adjustment of bar 46.

The bottom of the magazine is located slightly above the lower margins of the front and side walls thereof, and is pro vided with an opening 50, and the side walls at opposite sides of said opening are cut away in their lower edges at 51. Pivoted at to and depending from opposite sides of the magazine at the lower front corners thereof are pivoted catches 53. formed with inclined or cam edges 54, and said catches are limited as to forward movement, by lips projecting laterally from the magazine.

Underlying the magazine and pivoted at 56 to a bracket 57 upon partition 2, is an extracting or envelop flap unfolding plate 58, the same being held yieldingly with its front sharpened edge pressed upwardly by a spring 59, interposed between said plate and the bottom ofbracket 57 the front portion of said plate 58 having lateral eXtensions 60 projecting beyond the side walls of the magazine and the vertical planes occupied by the catches 53, as shown most clearly by reference to Fig. 4.

The envelops are stacked in the magazine with their flaps undermost and extending rearwardly from the front wall of the magazine, so-that when the magazine stands in its normal or vertical positioruthe front edge of the plate 58shall occupy the recesses in the lower ends of the side walls of the magazine and bear against the undermost envelop rearward of the flap thereof. When the magazine is swung rearwardly, as hereinafter explained, the flap of the undermost envelop will strike against and be bent downward by the front edge of plate 58. As the rearward movement of the magazine continues the front edge of the said plate will engage the cam edges of catches 53 and be pressed downward and thereby begin the unfolding movement of the flap, as indicated in Fig. 5. it being noted by reference to Fig. (3, that in the course of the unfolding movement the plate 58 tends to buckle or bend the opening flap forwardly under the front wall of the magazine and that in consequence the front end of the envelop is sprung downwardly. Before the rearward movement of the magazine is completed, the parts above mentioned attain substantially the position shown in Fig. 7, in which it is noted that the flap extends forwardly almost in line with the body of the envelop, and that the latter has been bent downward until it is about to clear the lower edge of the front wall of the magazine. As the magazine attains the limit of its rearward movement, the catches 53 clear the lateral extensions 60 of plate 58, and the spring 59 snaps said plate upwardly between the catches until arrested by the lower edge of the front wall of the magazine, as shown clearly in Fig. 2, at which time it will be seen that the plate has caused the flap to extend in a slightly upward and forward direction so that its front edges shall be substantially above the horizontal plane of the shelf 11.

Vith the parts in this position, the pin 30 clears the rear end of the pivoted rack bar and drops downward upon the underlying rack bar and the release of the lever permits the magazine to swing forwardly. In such action plate 58 is slightly depressed through the pressure of the lower edge of the front wall 011 the open flap of the envelop. the forward movement of the magazine, of course, at the same time sliding said flap forwardly upon said plate so that before the magazine has attained its initial position the said flap shall be disposed over and upon the shelf 11, the attainment by the magazine of its initial position effecting the projection of said flap through the slot 10, where it may be readily grasped by the purchaser who, by pulling upon it, Withdraws the corresponding envelop from the magazine. In this forward movement of the magazine the pivoted catches strike the rear edges of the lateral extensions 60 of plate 58, and drag over said extension in the continued forward movement of the mazagine, without tending to depress the plate, which depression, as hereinbefore explained, is

effected by the lower edge of the front wall of the magazine applying pressure through the interposed envelop flap.

To effect the operations described, a coin is dropped into the tube and is arrested of such movement the pin 23 advances in the upper portion 16 of the angular slot of the tube, until it engages said coin at a point substantially vertically over its center and at the same time pin 27 attains a position below the plane of the nose 36 of bar 35, to leave said bar free to swing rearwardly. Continued operation of the lever then causes the pin to force the coin downward and the latter to repress or force rearwardly the springadvanced swinging bar 35 after which the coin is free to drop into the drawer, as the rearward movement of bar 35 of course withdraws its foot or false bot tom from the coin tube. Continued movement of the lever through its pin 27, traveling downward in the lower portion of the slot 26, imparts rearward movement to the swinging plate. which, through pin 28, imparts rearward swinging movement to the magazine and effects rearward movement of the link 29, the pin 30 riding successively over the teeth of the inclined rack bar 32. By the time the pin 30. clears the last of the teeth 33 of said bar, the magazine and connected parts occupy the position shown in Fig. 2, and swing back to their initial positions immediately the pressure on the lever is released.

It will be seen by reference to Fig. 1, that the depression of the lever when no coin is in the tube, is arrested by the engagement of the pin 27 with the lower end of the slot 39, which end terminates slightly below the lower side of mouth 40, to guard against the entrance of the pin into said mouth unless the bar 35 is repressed by the pressure of a coin on flange 37, as described, and it will also be seen that if a coin is pressed downward far enough to repress the said bar until the pin 27 enters said mouth 40, the nose 36 will guard against reelevation of said lever until the downward operation of the same has been completed. It will thus be seen that the same coin cannot be an ployed to unlock the mechanism more than once.

The parts are also proportioned that. a plurality of coins in the tube cannot render the machine inoperative because the pin 23 will enter, as a wedge, between a coin resting in the tube on flange 37 and a second coin upon the first, it being also apparent that a coin introduced while the lever is depressed will be above and therefore lifted by pin 23. in its return movement, such coin dropping down again until arrested by the flange 37, which is returned to normal position as the lever is reclevated.

The drawings represent a single magazine machine but there may be any desired number of magazines and equipment therefor in a single casing, and provision will also be made for effecting the rejection of spurious coins and the ejection of coins sutliciently small to pass down through the tube 12 without contact with the coincatching flange 37. As features of the kind mentioned bear no interdependent relation to this invention, they are neither shown nor described.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced a coin controlled vending machine possessing the features of advantageenumerated as desirable, and it is to be understood that while I have illustrated and described what I consider the preferred embodiment of the invention, I reserve the right to make all changes falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a vending machine. a casing, a magazine therein provided with a bottom opening, a plate underlying the magazine for en gageinent at its front edge with an envelop within the magazine and exposed by the said bottom opening thereof. means for effecting relative movement between the magazine and said plate whereby the latter acts as a sliding wedge to enter between the body of the envelop and its flap, means for depressing the front end of said plate after its engagement with the envelop flap to cause the plate to clear the lower end of the front wall of the magazine and open the flap downwardly. and means for reelevating the said end of said plate to swing the flap forwardly under and project it beyond the said magazine wall in a fully opened position without imparting endwise movement to the body of the envelop.

2. In a vending machine. a casing, a magazine therein provided with a bottom opening. a plate underlying the magazine for engagement at its front edge with an envelop within the magazine and exposed by the said bottom opening thereof, means for effecting relative movement between the magazine and said plate whereby the latter acts as a sliding wedge to enter between the body of the envelop and its flap. means for depress ing the front end of said plate after its engagement with the envelop flap to cause the plate to clear the lower end of and front wall of the magazine and open the flap downwardly, means for reiilevating the said end of said plate to swing the flap forwardly under and project it beyond the said magazine wall in a fully-opened position without imparting endwise movement to the body of the envelop, and means to reverse the relative movement of the magazine and plate to restore them to normal position.

3. In a vending machine, a casing, a magazine therein provided with a bottom opening, a plate underlying the magazine for engagement at its front edge with an envelop within the magazine and exposed by the said bottom opening thereof, means for effecting relative movement between the magazine and said plate whereby the latter acts as a sliding wedge to enter between the body of the envelop and its flap, means carried by the magazine for effecting relative separating movement in a vertical plane between the magazine and the said plate to cause the latter to clear the lower end of the front wall of the magazine and turn the fiap downward without imparting endwise movement to the body of the envelop, and means for reversing the said separating movementto cause the said plate to swing the flap forwardly under and project it beyond the said magazine wall without imparting endwise movement to the body of the envelop.

4. In a vending machine. a casing. a mag: zine, therein provided with a bottom opening, a plate underlying the magazine for engagement at its front edge with an envelop within the magazine and exposed by the said bottom opening thereof, means for effecting relative movement between the magazine and the said plate whereby the latter acts as a sliding wedge to enter between the body of the envelop and its flap. a catch pivotally depending from the magazine, provided with a rearwardly facing cam edge to engage and depress the front end of said plate as the wedge action thereof is ended to cause said plate to clear the lower end of the front wall of the magazine and turn the flap downward, and means for re'elevating the said end of said plate to swing the flap forwardly under and project it beyond the said magazine wall.

5. In a vending machine, a casing having a delivery opening, a magazine pivotally suspended within the casing and provided with a bottom opening. a plate underlying the magazine for engagement at its front edge with the envelop within the magazine and exposed by the said opening, means for swinging the magazine rearward to cause said plate to act as a sliding wedge and enter between the body of the envelop and its flap, a catch pivotally suspended from the magazine and provided with a cam edge to engage and depress the front end of said plate after the same has been interposed between the body of the envelop and its flap to depress said plate and unfold the said flap downwardly and then release the plate, means for reelevating the plate when released to continue the unfolding of the flap to swing the same forwardly under and project it beyond the front wall of the magazine, and means for reversing the swinging movement of the magazine to return the same to normal position and project the said unfolded flap of the undcrmost envelop through the delivery opening of the casing.

6. In a vending machine, a casing provided with a front delivery opening, a magazine pivotally suspended within the casing with its lower front edge normally adjacent said opening and provided with a bottom opening and with recesses in the lower edges of its side walls at the sides of said opening, the front wall of the magazine also terminating below the plane of the said opening, a catch pivotally suspended from the magazine and extending below the walls thereof and provided with a rearwardly facing cam edge, means to limit forward swinging movement of said catch with respect to the magazine, a plate underlying the magazine and hearing at its front edge against the undermost envelop therein through the said bottom opening and provided at its front end with a lateral extension projecting through the recess of the adjacent side wall of the magazine, means to swing the magazine rearwardly to cause the front edge of said plate to enter as a wedge between the said under-most envelop and the flap thereof, and then cause its lateral extension to engage the cam edge of the catch and be depressed thereby for the purpose of swinging said flap downward, and then as the front edge of the plate clears the catch, effect forward and upward movement of the flap under the lower edge of the front Wall of the magazine, means to reverse the movement of the magazine, and means to reelevate the depressed plate and dispose its lateral extension in the path of movement of the said catch to swing the latter rearwardly so that it shall drag over the said extension of the plate and after it clears the same gravitate back to its original position.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

\VILLIAM O. WVOLFORD. Witnesses:

A. L. JACKSON, J. B. BARNETT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

